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I’ve recently fallen pray to a new addiction. It’s called Twitter and it’s more fun than one person is entitled to have.

I “follow” 52 people, most of whom are famous celebrities. I have 13 followers following me. Many of whom, again, are famous celebrities. I interact with these people every day. I read their messages, I laugh at their jokes, I click on their links. We have a good old time. ‘Course none of them are talking directly to me, and with one notable exception, I’ve never received a reply to anything I’ve directed at anyone specific. Yes, that’s right! @therealnph (to use proper Twitter lingo) has tweeted at me… ‘Course the jury is still out on whether he’s really the real NPH, (That’s Neil Patrick Harris, for those not in the know) but I guess I can now say “I’m friends with ‘therealnph’.”

I’ve really enjoyed being on Twitter. It’s open on my computer all the time, whether I’m at home or at work. I’ve got two separate apps on my iPhone for accessing the Twitter platform. I’m always on Twitter and it’s great fun. However, I can’t help wonder what Twitter feels like to someone who is like I was most of my life; easily discouraged, insecure, feeling unloved and unwanted.

You see, being on Twitter tests my ability to handle rejection and judge my own self worth. Having been clinically depressed most of my life, having based a lot of my self worth on whether or not other people wanted me around (or how I perceived whether they wanted me around), I could understand how someone who experiences these things would quickly be discouraged, possibly even hurt, by being a Twit. It would be easy to develop a false sense of popularity, or cool…ness. I don’t have five real friends so 52 twitter friends seems pretty impressive, ‘course most of them don’t know I’m following them. (Doesn’t that make me more like a Twitter stalker?) I’m just one of a legion. And those that follow me, probably follow everyone who follows them. Let’s see…

Hal Sparks is being followed by 656 people and following 327 people. I’m one of those 327. OK. I guess I’m special.

Hayden Panettiere is being followed by 341 people and is following 81. Not only am I one of them but she added me as someone she’s following within minutes of me adding her as someone I’d follow. I guess that’s kinda special!

Now, Gavin Newsom is being followed by 1351 people and is following 1262 people. I’m one of those people, but that’s 93% of the people following him. More importantly, Gavin Newsom is the Mayor of San Francisco and running for Governor of California. I’m sure his following me is politically motivated… More importantly, I’m certain Gavin Newsom himself rarely, if ever, sees his own Twitter timeline and the person/people really seeing my tweets are interns working on his campaign. Me? Not so special.

I follow the LIVESTRONG foundation. Livestrong has 5905 people following them and they’re following 6182 people. This would imply that they’re following 100% of the people following them and then some. Once again, me not special.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is being followed by 16,760 people and is following 16,487 people. I’m one of those people, but that’s 98% of his followers. Among the masses, am I. (Who let Yoda in here?) Arnold is our current Governor so obviously his Twitter activity is politically motivated.

Maria Shriver (mostly just ’cause I can) is being followed by 6708 people and is following 5515. Well, that’s only 82% and she started following me pretty much immediately too. I guess that would be kinda special but she’s the Governor’s wife. She has her own political function. Again, pretty sure it’s an intern of some sort running her show. Besides which, nothing has been posted in her name since I signed up.

Oh, and then, of course, there’s Barack Obama. Followed by 298,345 people and following 287,407. That’s 96%. I’m one of them, added on the same day. I’d feel special but I’ve never been more sure of anything than I am that The President of the United States is not running his own Twitter account.

I seem to have gotten a little lost in my point making. Oh yes.

While I could be wrong and one or two of the people I listed up there might have found something interesting in the very slight bit of information they might find about me, I doubt it very much and can only assume that adding me as someone they follow was somehow a political/career move on their parts. If what they thought of me mattered, or if I was counting on Twitter Popularity to make me feel good about myself that would probably hurt me. If I had some real hope of becoming friends with famous people because I Tweet (and if you’re reading this, I do want to be your friend. Let’s do lunch!), I’d certainly be setting myself up for a fall. But I don’t expect that’s going to happen. I take Twitter for what it is and I do not expect anything more than what I’m getting.

Clinical Depression is not something that just goes away. For me, it’s under control now. I’ve learned a lot about myself and about life and I have, at least some, of the tools necessary to deal with it. So while I admit that I get pangs of unwarranted negative feelings about what happens on Twitter, I am quick to remember that this is not where my value lies and not what my self worth is based on. It’s just a fun thing to do!

Oh! And Hal, Hayden, Mayor Newsom, LIVESTRONG dudes, Governor Schwarzenegger, Maria or President Obama (or any of your Interns), if you’re reading this, thanks for following me on Twitter and for stopping by my blog! You’re my favorite Comedian, Actress, Mayor, Charitable Organization, Governor, State First Lady, or President (or any of their Interns) reading this at this moment!

This song came up on my iPhone Genius Play-list today. It is appropriately used as the theme song for The Biggest Loser. It was also used at the tail end of the very first, and very last episodes of the US version of Queer As Folk. Also very fitting by my estimation. I find it tremendously inspirational!

Proud, by Heather Small

I look into the window of my mind
Reflections of the fears I know I’ve left behind
I step out of the ordinary
I can feel my soul ascending
I’m on my way
Can’t stop me now
And you can do the same

What have you done today to make you feel proud?
It’s never too late to try
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
You could be so many people
If you make that break for freedom
What have you done today to make you feel proud?

Still so many answers I don’t know
I Realise that to question is how we grow
So I step out of the ordinary
I can feel my soul ascending
I am on my way
Can’t stop me now
And you can do the same

What have you done today to make you feel proud?
It’s never too late to try
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
You could be so many people
If you make that break for freedom
What have you done today to make you feel proud?

Yeah, We need a change
Yeah, Do it today
Yeah, I can feel my spirit rising
Change, yeah
We need a change, yeah
So do it today, yeah
‘Cause I can see a clear horizon

What have you done today to make you feel proud?
So what have you done today to make you feel proud?
‘Cause you could be so many people
If you make that break for freedom
So what have you done today to make you feel proud?
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
What have you done today
What have you done today
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
You could be so many people?
Just make that break for freedom
So what have you done today to make you feel proud?

Unsvelt Girl who Runs and I went to lunch today at the local burger joint. This is entertaining in itself as UGwR recently decided to become a vegan/vegetarian. She said she read something that made her never want to eat an animal product again. I told her she could feel free never to share it with me. I like my animal products just fine, thank you, and I don’t need unpleasant imagery while I’m eating just about every meal I ever eat!

We talked about the Grammy’s. I know. I’m three days behind the rest of the world. I don’t care. I hate commercials and this is how I watch TV.

Jennifer Hudson

What was she thinking with this dress? It looks like she’s got a dinner napkin stapled to the front of her. I mean, really! If it had been tailored in some way, maybe. If it had more of a shape to it and somehow wrapped around her waste, it might have worked. But it didn’t! It’s squared off at the bottom. Maybe my mind filled in the blanks but I could swear I saw the glint of light reflecting off of metal like I could see the safety pins that could have been used to attach the dinner napkin to the dress.

Here’s what I think happened. Ms. Hudson and her management team, including her stylist, went for a nosh before the show. As so frequently happens to women with largeish sweater puppets, she dropped something on her chest and stained her beautiful designer dress.

“Oh my God! What am I gonna do?” she asked in a panic.

“Don’t worry, hun,” says her stylist, “we can deal with this!” And with that he whipped out his trusty murse (Man Purse), pulled a stapler and can of hairspray out, grabbed an unused linen napkin from the next table over and went to town. A little hair spray to give the top some shape and staples to hold it in place and she was good to go.

Unsvelt Girl who Runs said there was another person with a similar look. I don’t remember it. She says it was the same color as the rest of the dress, so maybe it worked.

On the other hand Jennifer Hudson looked fantastic while performing You Pulled Me Through and she almost brought me to tears (thank God for my frozen heart) as she struggled to get through this emotional song. It was obvious she must’ve been thinking of her mother who was recently murdered and her eyes were glistening with tears by the end of the song. It was a truly touching moment and I really felt for her.

Coldplay

“That guy is a freak!” said Unsvelt Girl, speaking of Chris Martin. “What was with those clothes they were wearing!?”

“They were ugly, that’s for sure! Did you see them apologize to Paul McCartney for stealing the ‘Sargent Pepper’s’ look?” I don’t think she understood that reference. “And his pants were too short, but that’s a style.”

“Oh good! Then I don’t have to buy new pants for my son,” she said.

“Um, yeah. Your son is 13 years old and not a rock star. You have to buy him new pants.”

“Damn!”

I think Coldplay faked their entire performance of Viva La Vida. First of all, there were four musicians on stage, including Chris Martin. Chris Martin wasn’t playing any instruments, one of the guys was playing only a guitar, one was playing a guitar and a keyboard and the fourth guy was playing kettle drums and a bell. We apparently weren’t supposed to notice the plethora of stringed instruments, not of the guitar variety that are part of that song, but weren’t represented by instruments on the stage. I could accept that some of it was coming form the keyboard that was being played, but then the guy walked away from the keyboards and the strings were still playing.

Toward the end of the song there’s some humming, or ooo-ing, or whatever-ing. On the stage the four boys joined around one microphone to sing them. Chris Martin had his hand mic by his side and was late getting to the other boys but the sound was full. It was also full when he turned away before they were finished. And finally when he said, “Thank you” at the end of the song, he wasn’t at the microphone and hadn’t picked his hand mic back up. Where did the sound come from?

Late last year, Coldplay performed this song on Saturday Night Live. I don’t remember whether there were other musicians on the stage then, but what I do remember is that Chris Martin acted in very much the same way, including ending the song on his knees and lying back on the floor. “I guess they don’t think out side of the box much,” said Unsvelt Girl who Runs.

M.I.A.

O.M.G.

‘Nuff said.

Actually, I just read that she start feeling contractions just as the show started. I’m not a fan of rap, and didn’t think much of that performance (The Rap Pack) but that girl was shakin’ her groove thang, (Yes, I am very white) and this revelation makes that movement that much more incredible!

And speaking of rap stars…

American Boy

I happen to like this song. It’s a catchy tune. I’ve got it on my iPhone. I’ve got it… ON MY iPHONE!

“Really!” Unsvelt Girl said sarcastically as she picked up her iPhone and pulled up the song to show me the album cover… Same one I’ve got on my iPhone. “Really! You didn’t realize she was black?”

“I guess I never paid that much attention to the album cover.”

It’s a fun song and I enjoy the version with Kanye West, but boy does that man need to cut his hair and HOT DAMN!, how did I not make note of this dress last night? She looks like a cone coffee filter. And she was sitting down at the beginning of that performance. How is this possible? I feel sorry for whoever had the misfortune of sitting next to her

“I had to turn on the captioning while they were doing this song. There’s a line in the song that I just haven’t been able to figure out,” I told Unsvelt Girl.

“Really? What is it?”

“I have tried and tried to figure out what that line is and the only thing I’ve been able to come up with is, ‘I’d really like to cook naked with you. Will you be my American Boy?’. But that doesn’t make any sense. Well, maybe it does. Hmm… ‘I’d really like to cook naked with you.’ Could be fun I guess.

“Every time the song comes on I listen real close to try and figure it out. I’m like, ‘She’s not saying “cook naked” is she? She wouldn’t be saying “cook naked” right? I mean what kinda sense does that make?’

“Anyway, the line is ‘Come pick it’… Wait. That doesn’t make much sense either. Well, that’s what the person typing the captioning heard anyway!”

(A quick Google search has revealed that the line is actually “come kick it”, which, all things considered, makes far more sense.)

The King of Wishful Thinking

“You know,” I told her, “it’s really funny the things we think we hear in songs sometimes. Back in 1990 there was a song by an obscure group called ‘Go West’. They had one popular song called The King of Wishful Thinking.”

“Never heard of it,” she was quick to reply. (Turned out she had.)

“Well the song says, ‘I’ll get over you, I know I will. I’ll pretend my ships not sinking…’ But Green M&M told me that for the longest time when this song was out she heard the line differently. She said she couldn’t believe it could be what she heard when they’d play it on the radio but she just couldn’t figure out what else the lyrics could be.

“Green M&M said she thought the lyrics were ‘I’ll get over you, I know I will. I’ll pretend my shit’s not stinking…”

It was my plan to write today about happiness. How sometimes, happiness is a choice and one that can be very hard to make and how frustrating it is to have to make that choice over and over again. That was my plan.

I just got some news that upset that plan and, of course, me.

I’ve written in the past about my dear friend, who for these purposes I call “Eve”. I met Eve when I worked in retail 12 years ago. I liked her and enjoyed our friendship but some things happened along the way that for a time we weren’t as close as we once had been. When I moved to California, I assumed I’d never see her again, indeed, I never thought I’d speak to her gain. I don’t think I realized then, that her grandparents live in the bay area and she has a long-standing tradition to come to the bay area to visit her grandparents the week of Thanksgiving and when the time came for her to come visit the first year I was here, she contacted me and invited me to come hang out.

I was really glad she did, and with the trappings of our previous work relationship, and with all the rumor and hushed conversations of others out of the way we had the opportunity to really grow in our friendship and our love for each other.

Earlier today, I logged on to Facebook (evil site that it is) and found that I had been “tagged” in a note by Eve. I looked at it to find that it was one of those “25 random things about me” lists. (Random thing about me #1: I’ve been dreading being asked to complete one of those!) As I read her list, I noticed that number 15 said this, “My mother and I have an amazing relationship, I die a little inside knowing I have less than 12 months to spend with her before she moves to the west coast.”

“Awesome” I thought, “Now maybe she’ll make more trips out here and I’ll get to spend more time with her.”

Eve told me years ago that her mother was planning to retire to the Bay Area so she could be close to her parents. I always secretly hoped that Eve would move with them, or shortly after them, and we could be close again. A few years ago Eve’s mother took a huge hit when the stock market faltered and she lost a significant amount of money. Apparently, that’s when they decided to move west, but some place a little less expensive. So today, I asked Eve about this:

Self: So I didn’t realize your parents were going to move here so soon. Where are they going to live?

Eve: In Portland, OR or Vancouver, WA.

Self: Oh. I thought they were moving here.

Eve: No. And, my Grandparents are even moving up to Portland or Vancouver, too. So this Thanksgiving will be the last time I head out that way

Self: Oh, no.

Eve: Yup. So I’ll get to see you in Feb and in Nov and that’s that for awhile

Self: Well, you’ve just totally bummed my day!

This is tragic! My heart is absolutely breaking! I don’t know what my life would have been like without her in it. I don’t know if she had any real impact on my existence, other than to have been the one person I knew I could come out to and know there’d be no negative repercussions. But I know that these brief, and few and far between, visits that we’ve shared over the last 11 years have meant the world to me, and they’ve been the life’s blood of our friendship.

I feel like our relationship is ending. Is that silly? I mean, in this day and age with Instant Messengers, and Facebook and iPhones with text messaging, is that silly? The problem is, I’m doing what I always do. I’m thinking about this a few steps ahead. Yes, I’ll see her, however briefly, when she comes out to visit next month, and I’ll see her again very briefly in November. The visits will be fun, but they’ll go much too fast, and there will be a cloud over them. And in November, when she walks me to my car (if she walks me to my car) and hugs me and says good-bye. It will be for the last time.

I haven’t been to Tulsa in five years. My sister and her family have moved to New York. I’ve lost touch with all of my other friends besides Eve. I love Scornful Mother, but I can’t stand to be around her for long. Going back to Tulsa, really isn’t in the cards.

Ultimately, I’m only a very small part of Eve’s life and I don’t fit into the rest of it. I’ve met her boyfriend twice, but I don’t know him, I’m not completely comfortable with him and I don’t think he’s completely comfortable with me. I’ve never met his two children but I know they’re troublesome and I don’t really feel like I should be involved in that. And despite the way I speak of Eve, we don’t really have the kind of deep connection where I would be welcome and convenient as a part of her every day life, however briefly. Therefore, going to Tulsa, with the purpose of visiting her doesn’t seem likely. And even if I did, I couldn’t get away with being there and not seeing/visiting/staying with my mother.

So, I’m doing what I alwasy do. I’m thinking about this a few steps ahead and what I see happening is, our interaction will dwindle. Eve is never on Instant Messenger any more. Occasionally, I talk to her via the chat function of Facebook, but it’s not very convenient and it’s very infrequent. We exchange one line comments and topics on Facebook but it’s all very superficial. We don’t spend much time on the telephone. And text messeging is no way to carry on a conversation. Soon it’ll be nothing but comments on each other’s Facebook activity. I don’t imagine I’ll ever see her again.

It is at a moment like this, when I’m faced with difficulties and sad things that are not within my control, which really aren’t about me, that I remember just how much of an effort it is, how much hard work it takes to be happy and at this moment, I can’t put forth the effort it requires.

OK. Don’t anybody panic but we seem to have a problem. The sun seems to be broken. It’s out of cycle, or in rebellion or something. It doesn’t seem to realize that it’s mid-November and that we should be cold. The temperature today, here in Northern California was in the mid 80s! This is not right. It’s Autumn for crying out loud! I have very mixed feelings about this time of year. Always have had.

When I was a young boy living in Ohio, it was at this time of year that the temperature began to fall. The nights were longer, the weather colder and we would pull out our sweaters and heavier coats while the children waited and prayed for the snow to fall and the promise of a snow day from school. As a teenager in Oklahoma, it was around this time of year that the morning ground was sparkly and crunchy with frost and your breath would form clouds of vapor before your eyes. The sun would shine clear and by mid-day it’s back to carrying your coat because it is too warm to wear it, but by late afternoon as the sun is setting it becomes winter once again. Coats, scarves and sweaters are all must have items even if you don’t want to be wearing them at the moment. And the children will wait and pray for the snow to fall and the hope of a snow day that will probably never come.

Here in the Bay Area, at this time of year, it’s no surprise if the temperature reaches or exceeds 60 degrees after the sun comes up. But even with the warmer temperatures, there’s a chill in the air. It’s called, “the holidays” (and dammit, make sure you call them that, for we may offend someone if we use the Almighty’s name).

In a lot of ways the season started in October. There’s something truly amusing and simultaneously disturbing about walking through you’re local “Discount Store” and seeing an entire section of Halloween costumes and decorations, only to turn a corner and find rows upon endless rows of Christmas paraphernalia. But in my mind the frenzy starts this Tuesday.

Tuesday night, I’ll arrive at my humble abode, in the dark and the “cold” all alone. I’ll slide my truck into my narrow garage and gather my belongings to take inside, and I’ll walk up to the mail box. Inside, I will find all the sale ads for the coming week, for the local grocery and drug stores. The sale ads will be chock full of holiday specific offerings like turkeys on steroids, cranberries of all varieties (fresh, canned, jellied or juice), green beans and fried onions, sweet potatoes and marshmallows, pumpkin pie and Cool Whip, wine and booze out the ass and cornucopias of all varieties. And it will be all down hill from there. This week-end when I go to do my regular bachelor shopping, I’ll fight crowds with their carts flowing over with pastry crusts and assorted greenery of the vegetable kind. There will be Christmas music assaulting my senses from overhead, and though I’ll be listening to my iPhone whilst I shop, It’ll be virtually impossible to block it out entirely.

The following week is the short week. For me, that week represents pure bliss! It’s the week Eve spends in California and even though she’ll be here for days before I get to see her, I revel in the idea that she’s near. I do love her in a very real way! This time of year is filled with the conflicting emotions of loneliness, having no family around and no one to share my holidays with; joy, knowing I won’t be enmeshed in any turmoil of family drama which can not be avoided on such occasions; and excitement, getting to spend this time with the love of my life… Even if she insists on bringing the love of her life with her. I’m a happier person with her in my life and I only wish she was a constant part of my world.

Soon, “holiday” lights will be strung around the border of Lake Merritt near my office and lit up for the duration of the season. The lighted Christmas Tree will be put up, appearing to hover above the lake as it occupies that space which normally functions as a fountain.

They finally finished construction on The Cathedral of Christ the Light this Summer. It’s the ugliest Catholic “Cathedral” you’ll ever see and I have to use the quotes because it doesn’t even resemble a cathedral. There’s no stained glass anywhere, no steeple or bell tower, and only at the very end as a final touch did they put a cross at the entrance. Barely an accent, it doesn’t measure up to the original cross designed to tower above the diocese offices to be seen for miles around. This cross would almost go unnoticed as you walk past to enter the hall. No, this building resembles a sinking ship, or half a foot ball, or a really odd looking punch bowl turned upside down, perhaps a rotary club fez cap, but not a church. I can only assume that it will be decorated for the holiday’s as well, adding to the general “festiveness” of the Downtown Oakland District.

As the season progresses, things will quiet down in my office. More and more, I’ll arrive mornings at the parking garage and find more open spaces to park. People with families (and money) taking days off to get a head start on their shopping. Taking weeks off to spend with family as they visit from out of state, or going out of state to visit with family. The calls for services or to complain will slow until they cease entirely. There will be office parties and other gatherings where people will pretend to be friends and care about the plans and goings on of others, all the while wishing the pedantic ramblings of the office jabber mouth would come to an end.

In general, things will be in full swing after this week. Wherever I look there will be decorations and lights and carols and smiling and offerings of good tidings and great cheer, or some horse shit like that. People rushing about with nary a care for their fellow man. Only the mad dash for the finish line that is December 25th. There will be pressure to find just the right gift for everyone you know and two for your mom. There will be deadlines to get the job done while still trying to make all the parties and pick the perfect bottles of wine to bring to the hosts. And there will be no stopping it until late January when the final post holiday sale has ended, and the last straggling black and dying Christmas Tree has been put out to the curb. And to be honest, that can’t happen soon enough.

Yes the holiday season is upon us. There’s no stopping it now. So sit down, shut up, grab something and hold on tight! It’s gonna be a bumpy ride. I’ve entertained the idea of putting an end to my drinking career this week-end, but now I’m feeling, as they say in the movies, “I’ve picked a bad (month) to quit drinking!

When the iPhone first came out, I scoffed at the whole thing. The lines, the outrageous price tag, the low capacity, the having everything in one device, everything. Majority got one when they first came out and Unsvelt Girl Who Runs went on and on about how cool they were (but she didn’t get one). I already had a 60G iPod that I’d gotten a year earlier and a cell phone that was old and worn out and needed to be replaced but didn’t have to cost $500.00 to do so. I just didn’t think it made sense to buy an iPhone.

And then HE came in. He is beautiful. Must be nearly seven feet tall, but might as well be 20. Slim, rugged good looks, soothing soft spoken voice and noticeably lacking in the abject pretension that I’ve grown accustomed to dealing with in my company. Also, he’s black, so if the stereotype holds… Perhaps I’d never go back. And again, he has children, (I assume a wife) and he’s probably straight as a rule– well, a yard stick. None the less, the day get’s a little brighter when he walks in the door. He works for our in-house construction “company” and is, therefor, someone I deal with regularly. (Sidebar: Hmmm. Fantastical Engineers, Adorable Little Contractors and Beautiful Construction Workers! I seem to like the rugged ones don’t I? Don’t know what that’s about… Anyway!)

The first conversation I ever remember having with him was about his iPhone. He had an iPod Nano attached to his shirt, and an iPhone in his pocket. We discussed the fact that he doesn’t put his music on his iPhone. “Then what’s the point,” I wondered. He told me how he’d dropped his first iPhone down an elevator shaft, and though he had paid so much money for it, and though they don’t offer replacement plans for them he “had” to have another one. And then he let me play with it.

Nice as it might be, there was no double entendre there. I played with his iPhone for a few minutes. After that, I was hooked. That very day I ran out, with my “new cell phone fund” and bought my very own 16G iPhone. I couldn’t wait to get it home and activate it and load it up and have my new functioning iPhone. Activation was a piece of cake. I had my phone service switched to the new phone in less than 10 minutes. I love my iPhone. The music on the other hand was a nightmare. I hate my iPhone.

I started to sync my music and it was dragging. Taking several seconds for each song. It loaded about 300 songs (I have over 3000) and it errored out. I hate my iPhone. I restarted it and it picked up where it left off. This time it ws going faster (I love my iPhone) but it still was taking hours. When I finally gave up to go to bed, I found that it still had about 800 songs to go. I left it to finish and I went to bed. I hate my iPhone.

Out of my 300+ albums, my iTunes has located album art for all but about 12-15 of them. I was looking forward to listening to my new iPhone, and enjoying the larger view of the album art and the “cover flow” feature. Imagine my dismay when I picked up my phone the next morning and found that only the first 300 songs had album art and all the rest of the albums had the “no art” graphic of the music notes. I love my iPhone. I hate my iPhone.

I had no time to deal with it, I had to go to work. I would try again that evening. That evening the exact same thing happened. This time I was determined to babysit it! I was awake until after 2:00 in the morning, only to find that the exact same scenario played out again. I hate my iPhone. So I did what any one would do. I called in sick to work so I could fix it. 🙂 Any excuse not to go to work. I love my iPhone!

I ended up having to uncheck all the music in my library and then recheck them a group at a time (I did alphabetically) and sync it and then resync it and then re-resync it, over and over again until I had all the music on my iPhone with the album art. I hate my iPhone. It took a lot of jumping through hoops to do it but once it was set up it was great and I loved my new iPhone. I was even rational enough to know that I was dealing with an Apple product and it was only a matter of time before something bigger and better (and cheaper) came out. This was in April. I didn’t know then about the 3G model, but I knew it was only a matter of time…

So it came as no surprise when I heard about the “twice as fast for half the price” 16G iPhone 3G. And then I found out about the 2.0 version of the software for my archaic iPhone. It’s new and exciting! Of course I had to load it up!

I did not know that this new software would wipe my iPhone clean and then take hours to load. This was yet another overnight endeavor. I hate my iPhone. But when it was done all my music was there, and I had the Apps store! I lay in bed for three hours that Saturday morning, surfing the apps store, and loading every free application I thought I might even be sort of interested in, I could always delete them later if I wanted to. I love my iPhone. Downloading software version 2.0 was the worst thing I’ve ever done with my iPhone. It’s just been one problem after another! I hate my iPhone!

A month or two ago, there was an update to the software. Version 2.0.2. I went ahead and downloaded that because it must only be an improvement, right? Now my updates won’t download. The Apps store tells me there are updates and right now I have this lovely little red circle with a white 5 in it hovering over the corner of my Apps Store button. But if I try to install the updates it tells me that I’ve already “purchased” this application and that if I’m having trouble downloading the App, I should select “check for purchases” in iTunes. I hate my iPhone. When I follow these instructions I get an error message from iTunes telling me that some of my Applications couldn’t load because there was an “unknown error”. I’ve gotten this message before, and the number of applications not loading properly is growing. I hate my iPhone.

So last night, for the third or fourth time, I connected my iPhone to my computer to try and resolve this issue with iTunes. For the second time, iTunes reflected the 10+G of music I have as “other”. I disconnected my iPhone from my computer and went into the iPod function. “You have not loaded any music.” it says. (I’m sure I’m paraphrasing.) Bullshit I didn’t load any music. I don’t have 12G of “other” on here. So I had to restore my iPhone. I hate my iPhone. I have had to “restore” my iPhone on three separate occasions, and the only good thing I can say is that the first two times my music reloaded with no issues. (I love my iPhone?)

I started the restore process on my iPhone last night at around 5:30 p.m. iTunes loaded about 300 songs and errored out. I looked in iPod and the music was there but with no album art. I restarted the sync and it picked up where it left off. I hate my iPhone. I went to bed at 12:30 a.m. and it was still syncing. I hate my iPhone. I got up at 7:00 this morning and looked at my computer. No longer syncing. I wasn’t sure if it was done or not so I restarted the sync and it started loading music again. It had over 800 of my over 3000 songs to load. I walked away and started my morning routine. When I left for work at 8:20 it had only loaded about 120 songs. I had to manually stop it so I could leave. I hate my iPhone.

Ironically, all the music it loaded in my second attempt last night, and my third attempt this morning does have album art. I love my iPhone a little bit. The first three hundred songs however, have no album art. I’ll have to uncheck those albums resync my phone, let it delete those albums and sync the last 700+ songs and then recheck those albums and resync it again! If all goes well, it’ll load all the remaining music and all the album art that goes with it. If all does not go well, I may pull a Russell Crowe and throw my iPhone at the head of one of the “Geniuses”. I hate my iPhone.

For those of you keeping score at home, there are far more hates than there are loves. But at $500.00, I better love the hell out of my iPhone.

The truth is, I love my iPhone. I really love the concept of my iPhone. And if and when they get all these bugs worked out, I will petition the state of California for a marriage license for me and my iPhone. But until that happens, my iPhone is my bitch! It complicates my life. It’s uncooperative. It points and laughs at me. And it tells me that I’ll never be truely happy.